1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat recovery apparatus and a fuel cell having the same, and more particularly, to a heat recovery apparatus recovering heat generated from a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and transmitting the heat to a fuel spreader so that a temperature difference between the MEA and the fuel spreader inside a fuel cell is reduced, and to a fuel cell having the heat recovery apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell is a device in which chemical energy released by the oxidation of a liquid or gaseous fuel is converted directly into electrical energy. The fuel cell is a power generator continuously generating electric power as long as fuel is supplied thereto. As an example of the fuel cell, a direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC) is a device that directly supplies alcohol to an anode as fuel in order to generate electricity by reacting the alcohol with oxygen supplied to a cathode. A direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) using methanol as fuel can also be a representative example.
FIG. 1 is a view of a schematic structure of a general fuel cell applied to a DMFC 100. Referring to FIG. 1, the DMFC 100 includes a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) 130, a fuel cartridge 200, a fuel spreader 120, and a fuel actuator 110. The MEA 130 is a stack of an anode 131, an electrolyte membrane 132, and a cathode 133. The fuel cartridge 200 stores methanol as fuel. The fuel spreader 120 disperses methanol supplied from the fuel cartridge 200 so that the methanol is uniformly spread on a front surface of the MEA 130. The fuel actuator 110 controls the amount of methanol supplied from the fuel cartridge 200 to the fuel spreader 120.
Here, FIG. 1 illustrates the MEA 130, perpendicular to the fuel spreader 120, in which the anode 131, the electrolyte membrane 132, and the cathode 133 are sequentially stacked. However, the stacking order and the structure can vary according to the design purpose. Under different conditions, the MEA can be horizontally disposed with respect to a fuel providing unit.